Three and EE miss out on early Note 7 replacements

The troubles continue

Customers who pre-ordered Galaxy Note7 devices through Carphone Warehouse and O2 are receiving replacements after handing following Samsung’s global recall.

However, Three has said they have not received any replacement stock and are unsure as to when it may arrive. EE also confirmed they are not handing out replacement Note7 handsets currently

Sources at Carphone Warehouse and O2 confirmed they have received new handsets and Carphone Warehouse customers informed Mobile Choice that these have made their way to pre-orders. However, there is still no news as to when the phone will be back on sale in the UK.

In an email to Martin Rowberry, an affected pre-order customer, Carphone Warehouse stated:

‘The Samsung note 7 handset replacements that Carphone Warehouse has were received from Samsung on the 09 September and dispatched to stores at the first opportunity for customer exchanges.

Carphone Warehouse stopped all sales under advice from Samsung on the 01 September and returned all unsold units by the end of that week. The handsets that we have received and arranged for your replacement are from new stock and manufactured in a different location to the plant which was behind the battery cell issues.’

Staff react

The new Galaxy Note devices were released in the US last month but instances of the setting on fire lead to a global recall, announced the night before the Galaxy Note7 was due for release in the UK.

We approached Vodafone regarding their replacement plan and are still awaiting their response.

Mobile spoke to retail staff about the effect in store, with one EE staff member stating 'It's frustrating not being able to fulfill the pre-orders at the moment, but I think it's good that EE are taking the time to confirm that any replacement stock are safe for our customers, especially due to last year's battery issues.'

A retail staff member from Three responded to some brands receving the replacements before others stating 'I think this shows the pecking order with Samsung, favoured big ordering brands get served first while we have to wait, but to be honest we hardly had any pre-orders at all so as a store, we're relatively unaffected.'